More Than Friends
by HikariMelody
Summary: The South Park friends are going into their last year of high school. As they get pressured, their emotions for each other begin to change. Slash. M/M
1. Chapter 1

Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick have been best friends since elementary school. In the beginning, they didn't always get along and some were not fond with the other very much, but over the years, they grew attached to each other. Eric had once not liked Kyle because he was Jewish, but over time, he matured a bit and realized he was just being stupid. Kyle had once not liked Kenny very much for no reason in particular, but over the years, he got to know him better and they became closer. Now it was time for them to go into their last year of high school, a big moment in their lives.

Stan leaned against the bus stop sign, waiting for his other friends. He always met up with Kyle, Kenny, Eric, and Butters at that place in the morning. He heard the sound of crunching snow. He turned his head to see Kyle walking up to him. When he was beside him, they started talking about the latest game they bought and how challenging it was. As they continued their conversation, Kenny came and stood there with them silently. He didn't talk much. Butters soon joined them. During the time they remained there, the only thing Kenny paid attention to was Butters, who's ice blue eyes were intently reading a comic book. The bus soon rolled into the stop. Stan looked around and didn't see Eric.

"Where's Eric?" he requested.

Kenny pulled down his hood to reveal his unruly golden blond hair, along with uncovering his mouth.

"Eric is skipping the first day to play Prince of Persia instead. He said he wants to savor vacation just a little bit longer," he answered.

"He can do that the rest of his life after he graduates this year," complained Kyle as he rolled his eyes.

"How did he even graduate this far?" smirked Stan.

"No one will ever know."

They got into the bus as Kenny smiled lightly. There was already a few people on it. In the back of the bus sat Craig, Clyde, and Token. Pip and Damien were sitting at one of the seats. Pip seemed to be bugging him and it was getting on his nerves slightly. Kyle and Stan sat at one of the seats together. The seats in the bus were only big enough for two, except for the back one that could fit three, but it was already taken. Butters was sitting at one of the seats beside his best friend, Dougie, talking about when the next issue of the comic book series was coming out. Kenny slowly walked over to the seat behind them. He usually sat beside Eric, though they didn't really converse with each other much. Usually he just sat there while Eric was turned around in his seat talking to the other two friends in their group, Stan and Kyle. Kenny typically just watched Butters and Dougie tease each other. He wondered what it was like to have an actual best friend. He had friends, but they usually just dragged him around without paying much actual attention to him.

The bus stopped again and more high school students got on. Among them was Tweek. Tweek was twitching like a hyper squirrel, as usual. He sat by himself on the bus. At least Kenny wasn't the only one alone there. Tweek had no real friends either, but he had no intention of becoming friends with him, just like everybody else. Kenny wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging himself. He had no one to talk to. No one would listen. He was so alone.


	2. Chapter 2

School went by in a breeze. All the classes were just introductions. He hated introducing himself. He hated having people hear his voice. He hated the sound of his voice. He hated telling people things they didn't even bother attempting to remember. Introductions were so pointless. He doubted all of the new faces would even remember what letter his name started with after he just told them it. All he wanted was for someone to actually care. The one thing it seemed he could never have; no matter how much he yearned for it.

He walked as slow as humanly possible after the bus dropped him off. He didn't want to go home. Home was worse than school, if that's even possible. He inevitably ended up in front of his door eventually. He gradually opened it and stepped inside. He could already hear his parents arguing and his baby sister crying. What were they quarreling about this time? He made his way to their room. He had two older brothers, one older sister, a little brother, and a little sister. His three older siblings, Benny, Lenny, and Jenny, already moved out of the house as soon as they had graduated. Kenny wanted to do that, too, but that left his two little siblings, Denny, age twelve, and Penny, age seven, alone to fend for themselves against their abusive angry drunk parents. He couldn't leave them.

When he was in their room, he saw her crying on the bed with Denny patting her back. They all shared a room. It was rather small to hold three children. Well, two kids and one adult since Kenny had turned eighteen today. Not a surprise that no one had remembered it. Not even his friends or family had. They only had one bed in there. Though it wasn't literally a bed. It was a mattress on the ground with a blanket on it and two pillows. He always gave the two pillows to his little siblings. He couldn't remember the last time he slept with a pillow or even a mattress with a sheet over it.

"What's wrong, Penny?" he inquired as he rubbed her back.

He was still wearing his coat, gloves, and boots. He had to. His parents never pay the heating bill, so it was always cold every single day in there because it was always snowing where he lived. Penny's head lifted up to look at Kenny. She had tears running down her face, making her long golden blond hairs stick to her face. Her depressed blue eyes were heartbreaking. Did his eyes look like that, too? He wiped her cheeks with his gloves.

"It's okay. I just don't like it when mommy and daddy fight," she answered.

He stayed with them, comforting them, until they both fell asleep. When it was over, he creeped out of the room to check on his parents. They were laying on the couch out cold under a blanket. They must have drank until they passed out. He slowly walked over to them and gently picked up the blanket slightly. Just as he thought, they weren't wearing any clothes. They had sex a lot when they were drunk, which was more often than not. He hoped she wouldn't get pregnant again. He loved his little brother and sister, but he didn't think he could deal with taking care of another child. He felt like a single teenage parent. He turned away from them and made his way to the bathroom. He peered into the mirror. He was surprised to find a zombie-like teenager stare back at him. When was the last time he looked into the mirror? When did he start looking like that? Had he always looked like that? Is that why no one wanted to talk to him? Because he was dead inside? Moisture came from his eyes, but he still looked dead, not sad. He twisted away from the mirror and silently ran back to his room. What had he become?


	3. Chapter 3

Kenny was the first one at the bus stop today. It wasn't unusual for him to do so; but today was different. He didn't sleep at all last night. He just couldn't seem to. His stomach hurt. A lot. He heard noises to the right of him. He didn't move his head, just his dark blue eyes, to see Stan and Kyle dragging Eric behind them. He was screaming how he didn't want to stop playing his game, but they seemed to be ignoring that. The bus stopped in front of them and Kenny idly went up the steps to sit in his usual seat. Eric was, of course, thrown into his seat next to him by the other two boys. Eric crossed his arms in annoyance. He just wanted to play his game. What was wrong with that? Before the doors closed, Butters ran up the stairs, panting. He was late. That was unusual. He rushed to his seat beside Dougie and put his face in his hands.

"I hope my parents don't ground me for being late," he whined.

Grounded? That's something he's never, and will ever, experienced. From what Kenny's heard, Butters is grounded often and usually for stupid reasons. Did it mean his parents cared about his well-being or were just power crazed? He wondered what it felt like to have someone care about you. The bus soon picked up the other students and then stopped at the school. When it did, all the students filtered out except for Kenny. He couldn't move. He just couldn't seem to get his body to move. And no one noticed. _No one_.

"Kenny? Are you okay?" requested Butters as he shook his shoulder.

Kenny could barely move, but he somehow managed a shake. Butters gasped. He hadn't noticed that Butters had not left. He had noticed something was wrong. Someone noticed. _He noticed_. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He somehow didn't feel as alone as he did a few moments before. Butters ran over to the bus driver.

"Mister! My friend doesn't feel too good. Can you take him to the emergency room? I don't think he can move!" he told him with a worried voice.

Friend? At least he didn't say "that kid". The bus driver nodded and drove to the hospital. They helped Kenny get out of the bus and into the emergency room. He was accepted right away. The nurses and doctors checked him out and found out he had appendixes. They quickly prepped him up for surgery and removed it. He lived. Normally he would have just gotten it so bad that he would have to drag himself to the hospital. He was a regular there. The nurses always paid for him because they knew about his money troubles and how much of an accident prone guy he was. They let him leave the next day. Butters stayed by his side the entire time. He got him anything he needed. No one else visited. _No one_. Butters even stayed after his parents threatened to ground him if he stayed any longer.

Kenny walked out of the hospital. Butters had left an hour before it was time for him to leave because his parents dragged him out of the room. His parents were too strict on him. No wonder him and Butters were such opposites. Their parents' child-rearing skills were on opposite sides of the scale. He went straight home. When he went through the door, his parents were yelling at him for leaving, making them take care of his siblings for so long. They hit him for it multiple times. His mom even cut him with a knife. He ran into his room to find Denny and Penny crying in a corner. He took each of their hands and ran out of the house as fast as he could. He could only think of one place to go.


	4. Chapter 4

He couldn't go through the front door to see Butters. He was grounded after all. So he knocked on his window. It was a good thing that Butters moved his room to the first floor a few years back. Butters pulled open the window to look out it. His pale blond hair was a bit disheveled. He must have just woke up from a nap.

"Kenny? What is it?" he asked groggily while rubbing at his eyes.

"Can my siblings and I stay here for a bit?" he requested.

"Sure."

Kenny pulled himself inside then turned to pick up each of his siblings one at a time to bring them inside.

"Uh... Hi," piped up Butters to the kids.

"Hi, I'm Penny," mumbled the little girl.

The little boy stayed quiet and just stared.

"The boy is Denny," introduced Kenny.

"I'm Butters," he grinned awkwardly to them.

"Nice to meet you," she whispered.

Denny stayed silent and walked over to sit on the other boy's bed.

"Denny is mute," explained Kenny as he sat down against the wall.

"Oh. That must be awful. Uh... Kenny! You're bleeding!" exclaimed the other teenager.

Kenny was bleeding from one of his arms, cheeks, and temples. He had a black eye, too.

"What happened to you?" he shrieked.

"Let's just say my parents have different parenting ideals," he responded.

"That's horrible!" he gasped as he covered his mouth.

Butters took his hand and pulled him out the door.

"I have bandage you!" he went on.

He closed the bathroom door behind them. He removed Kenny's gloves and coat to reveal his thin T-shirt underneath. He grabbed a tissue, disinfectant, and band-aids. For each cut, Butters wiped it, sprayed the stuff, then bandaged until he was out of cuts. He even did it to the small ones.

"There. All better," he announced when he was finished.

Kenny looked up at him. He was only a few inches taller. No surprise there since Kenny wasn't very tall. Kenny leaned upwards and pressed their lips together. It felt good, like he finally found salvation. He could feel Butters stiffen underneath them. He separated their faces and opened his eyes to see Butters wide ice blue eyes.

"Thank you," he said kindly.

That was a tone he didn't normally use.

"You're... welcome..." replied Butters, obviously flustered.


	5. Chapter 5

Kenny wrapped his arms around Butters's middle. He held him close while resting his head on the other boy's shoulder. Butters was shaking slightly. He put his hands between them and lightly pushed him, but Kenny refused to move from this position and just held him tighter.

"Kenny... Please let me go..." whispered Butters with a slightly frightened tone.

"No," he simply replied.

"...I'm sorry. I don't like you that way."

"I know. You like Eric."

Butters's eyes widened.

"How do you know that?"

"I see the way you look at him. He's not that great you know. But I guess I'm not either."

Butters opened his mouth to respond, but Kenny kept talking.

"Just pretend, please. Just pretend that I'm Eric for a little bit. I know that our physique aren't alike, but still. I don't want to let go just yet."

Butters lifted his arms and hugged him back obediently. They stayed like that for several minutes until Kenny finally let go and pulled away. Butters ran out of the room saying something about checking up on the children. Kenny silently went out of the room, but instead of going back into Butters's bedroom, he went into the living room. Butters's parents were watching TV in it. He looked at a table to his right to see his mom's purse. He went through it and stole a handful of money. _I'm sorry, Butters, but I need it_, he thought. He slipped it into his pocket before going back to where he should be. Butters was sitting with his two siblings on the bed.

"Penny. Denny. It's time to go," he told his siblings.

"All ready?" whined the little girl.

"Yes," he answered.

Both of the children got off the bed and held each of his hands.

"Uh... Good bye, Kenny and Kenny's little siblings," said Butters quickly as Kenny went out of the window.

"Good bye and I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"Everything."

Kenny walked away as Butters closed his window with a confused expression. There was no doubt that Butters's mom would notice the missing money and he would know who did it. He sighed. He couldn't go home just yet. He used the money to check into a motel for that night.


	6. Chapter 6

Butters propped his head on his fists with his elbows on his desk as he stared at the back of Eric's head dreamily. Eric was so perfect. He had velvety brown hair to his ears along with gorgeous brown eyes. He liked the fact that he was awfully pudgy. It gave him more of a figure. He seen a small moment in the corner of his eye and turned his attention to Kenny, who was sitting next to him, glaring at Eric's back. Why was Kenny angry at Eric? Who could possibly be angry at Eric? He was too perfect for hate and anger.

Butters jumped a little bit when he was startled by the bell. He leaped out of his seat to get to his locker before the halls got too crowded. After he switched his text books he was carrying, he slammed it shut. He, once again, jumped a little bit when he found out Kenny was standing right his locker door, leaning against the neighboring locker. Kenny's dark blue eyes looked straight into Butters's ice blue ones with an unreadable expression. Butters swallowed before speaking.

"Hi, Kenny," he said.

"What do you see in Eric?" Kenny requested as soon as the other boy had closed his mouth.

Butters's eyes widened at that question.

"Everything," he replied, dumbfounded.

Kenny scowled at him before taking Butters's hand, making him drop his text books, as he dragged him to the boys' room as the other blond boy protested. He pulled him into the stall that was the size of two normal ones and locked it behind them.

"What do you want from me, Kenny?" yelled Butters.

Kenny just yanked him into an embrace as Butters feebly tried to push him away.

"Did you know I've had a crush on you for years?" he asked.

Butters immediately stopped squirming and shook his head.

"I figured as much. You notice things a lot, but you don't connect the meaning behind them very often. I don't know why you like Eric so much, but I do know he's never going to feel the same about you. He's too selfish and would only take advantage of you, like he's done for years. I can't just tell you to stop liking him, but please, give me a chance. I can make you forget all about him," Kenny whispered, full of vulnerability.

Butters pulled his face away from Kenny's shoulder and they stared into each others' sad blue eyes.


End file.
